


the tragedy of truth.

by pyroallerdyce



Series: captured moments. [22]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - No Powers, But it's not domestic abuse I promise, F/M, Implied/Referenced Abuse, One Shot Collection, Short One Shot, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:28:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24253627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyroallerdyce/pseuds/pyroallerdyce
Summary: His meeting with Snoke had been immediately followed by an unknown to Ben and therefore unexpected meeting with the Chancellor, and it became clear very quickly that Sheev had it in for him.  He didn’t care to listen to anything Snoke had to say and dismissed him within the first two minutes.  He didn’t care to hear anything Ben had to say either, not wanting to see a single example that Ben had as to why he had failed all of his students.Instead, Sheev had wanted to talk about Rey.or:  Rey's grandfather isn't supposed to know about Ben and Rey, but somehow he does.  Ben pays a price for this, but that's nothing compared to the one that Rey does.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: captured moments. [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1602691
Comments: 8
Kudos: 43





	the tragedy of truth.

**Author's Note:**

> #22. This will make little sense if you haven't read the previous 21.
> 
> Um, so this got kinda really dark compared to the previous 21. But this has always been part of my plan, so I hope that you don't hate me because of it. Sheev Palpatine is a lousy motherfucker, and you find out why in this one. 
> 
> Please don't kill me.
> 
> My back is finally feeling close to normal again, so I think we're back on track with our Monday and/or Friday update schedule.
> 
> And as always, if you like what you read, please let me know via a comment or kudos or bookmark so that I know I'm not writing into a void.

Ben walked into the café and headed to his table in the back without saying a word. He was numb, completely and totally numb, and he didn’t know how to put any sort of coherent thought together about what had happened about half an hour earlier. He was going to have to though because soon Rey would be headed his way with some coffee and water, and fuck, he was suddenly desperately concerned about his ability to pay for it.

Because Ben no longer had a job.

His meeting with Snoke had been immediately followed by an unknown to Ben and therefore unexpected meeting with the Chancellor, and it became clear very quickly that Sheev had it in for him. He didn’t care to listen to anything Snoke had to say and dismissed him within the first two minutes. He didn’t care to hear anything Ben had to say either, not wanting to see a single example that Ben had as to why he had failed all of his students.

Instead, Sheev had wanted to talk about Rey.

That was the part that Ben was really going to struggle to talk to her about because he knew that Rey hadn’t told Sheev about her relationship with him yet, so somehow Sheev had found out on his own. And just like Rey had been worried about, Sheev had decided to make Ben’s life a living hell by taking away the way that Ben made his living.

“Hi, honey,” came Rey’s voice, and Ben nearly jumped out of his skin. “Sorry for startling you. How did the meeting go?”

Ben watched as she set a cup of coffee and a glass of water on the table, immediately reaching for the water and drinking half the glass down. He had to find the words to talk to her and he had to do it now.

Rey heard her name be called out and sighed. “I’ll be right back.”

Good, that gave him a few minutes to think of how to tell her about this.

But the few minutes that Rey was going to be away then turned into nearly half an hour because the café got really busy and Rey knew he was last priority, and Ben felt like he was going to lose his mind. How could he possibly find the right words to tell her about this?

The chair across from his was pulled out and Poe sat down, and Ben knew that he must look like death warmed over by the look on Poe’s face. “Hi.”

“What the fuck is wrong?” Poe asked. “And be fucking honest.”

Ben just reached for his coffee and took five long sips.

Poe rolled his eyes and looked back at Rey. “Did you two fight? She hasn’t said anything about something like that.”

“No,” Ben got out. “We didn’t.”

“Then what the fuck is wrong?”

Ben closed his eyes, decided that Poe might be a good test subject for what he had to say, and then took nine deep breaths. “They fired me.”

Poe’s eyes widened. “What?”

“I’m not sure it actually had anything to do with me failing my students,” Ben said, taking another three deep breaths. “I was taken to meet with the Chancellor after my meeting with Snoke. And all he wanted to talk about was Rey.”

Poe’s eyes somehow got wider. “Her grandfather knows about you two?”

“Apparently so,” Ben said, taking another five deep breaths. “I don’t think she knows that he knows about us. I know she hasn’t told him.”

“Fuck, this isn’t good,” Poe muttered. “You two need to deal with this. She’s getting the rest of the night off.”

“Poe, that’s not necessary,” Ben said, but Poe was up and walking away before Ben could say another word.

A few minutes later, after watching Poe talk to a clearly confused Rey, she came over to the table and sat down next to him. “Ben? Poe said something is wrong and that we need to talk about it.”

Ben took sixteen deep breaths. “Yes, there is something wrong.”

Rey had worry in her eyes when she looked at him. “Do we need to go to a hospital?” she asked carefully, but that made Ben shake his head. 

“No, everyone’s fine. It’s something that’s happened to me. And well, to you also.”

“I am very confused right now.”

“Not here,” Ben murmured, standing up. “Let’s go home.”

Rey nodded and stood as well, and a few minutes later they were buckled into Ben’s car and he was driving out of the parking lot. “Ben? Will you tell me now that we’re not in the café or do we have to wait until we’re in the apartment?”

“Your grandfather knows about us,” was out of Ben’s mouth before he could even think about what to say, and he heard Rey gasp next to him.

“How? I haven’t told him.”

“I don’t know, but when I was in our meeting, all he wanted to do was talk about you,” Ben said, forcing himself to keep talking. “And then he fired me, so my day’s been great.”

“Fired you? Was that on Snoke’s recommendation?”

“No, Snoke said I was fully justified in failing those fucking morons,” Ben said, gripping the steering wheel tighter. “This has to be about you.”

Rey sat there for a moment before rattling off an address. “Take me there. I’ll handle this.”

“Rey.”

“No, Ben. He and I need to have a discussion. Alone. So you are going to drop me off there and I will take the bus home.”

“Rey,” Ben tried again, but Rey was adamant.

“Take me there or I’m staying at Finn’s tonight.”

Ben didn’t want that, so he took Rey to the address she had told him, let her kiss him before getting out of the car, and then once she was inside the house, he left like she had requested.

He drove back to the apartment, grabbed the bottle of whiskey from the cabinet, stared at it for a moment before pouring himself the one glass he would allow himself to have, and then sat down on the sofa with the whiskey and the book he’d started the week before. He was just going to think of something other than what Rey might be doing for a while.

His phone ringing jolted him awake three hours later, and it was only then when he realized that he’d fallen asleep. He reached for it, answered it quickly when he saw it was Rey, but before he could say a thing, Rey started talking.

“I need you to come to pick me up,” she said quietly. “But I’m not at my grandfather’s anymore.”

“Where are you then?” Ben asked, standing up and walking towards the table where his keys and wallet were. He could hear Rey take a shuddering breath and he became very concerned. “Rey, where are you?”

“The emergency room,” she practically whispered. “I’ll tell you everything, but I need you to come to get me first.”

“The emergency room?” Ben asked, alarmed. “Why are you at the emergency room?”

“Ben, please just come get me,” Rey replied, and Ben could tell she was crying.

“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“Thank you.”

Ben practically ran out of the apartment and to his car, and then he made himself take ten deep breaths before heading towards the hospital. He absolutely could not be so obviously freaked out when he saw Rey. She was going to need him to be strong for her, even if he had absolutely no idea why she was at the emergency room.

Well, he had an idea, and his idea matched up well with Rey being scared of her grandfather, but he was trying desperately to tell himself that he was wrong.

He had to be wrong.

But when he pulled up at the emergency room entrance and saw Rey standing there, face bruised and arm in a sling, he knew that he wasn’t. 

He was out of the car and helping Rey into the passenger’s side before he could think about that for another second. Once she was safely inside and they were halfway home, Rey swallowed hard. “You can ask now.”

“I don’t think I have any need to ask,” Ben said, gripping the steering wheel tighter. “I think that your injuries answer all the questions I might have.”

“It started when I was in high school,” Rey said after a moment. “But it was never this bad, and I didn’t have anyone I could tell about it anyway, and he’s the fucking Chancellor of the university. No one was going to believe it. When I moved out to live in the dorms my freshman year, it stopped and it hasn’t happened since. But when I told him that I was in love with you and that this was it, he just…I know why he does it. It doesn’t excuse it, but I know why he does it.”

Ben’s blood was boiling. “He should be in prison for this.”

“Yes, he should be,” Rey said, sighing. “But he isn’t. And I do know why he does it.”

“And why is that?” Ben asked.

“I look too much like my mother,” Rey replied. “I have her accent. And he thinks she is the reason that my father is dead. He’s wrong, of course. But that’s what he thinks.”

“So he beats up on you because you remind him of your mother? That is such fucking bullshit.” Ben took a couple of deep breaths. “We’re going to a police station. You’re reporting him.”

“I already did at the hospital,” Rey said quietly. “I propped my phone up against my purse with it recording video because I thought that perhaps he might do this. I have him on video hitting me.”

“Good,” Ben said firmly. “I’m going to get him fired from the university for this. I’m going to get my fucking job back too.”

“I’ll do whatever I have to do to help with both of those things,” Rey said, shifting and wincing from the pain. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to wait tables with a dislocated shoulder, but I’ll figure it out.”

Ben got even angrier. “Dislocated shoulder?”

“And a broken wrist,” Rey said. “He hit me so hard that I fell and I tried catching myself with my hand and that was just a terrible idea.”

Rey looked over and saw the white knuckle grip that Ben had on the steering wheel. “Ben, calm down.”

“I could murder him for laying a hand on you,” Ben said seriously. “Just murder him on the spot.”

“I wouldn’t let you do that. I’d lose you for longer than he’d ever serve for this.”

Ben’s phone began ringing at that moment, but he ignored it as he continued to drive. “That is likely my mother wanting to know how the meeting went.”

“Then you need to answer it.”

“I need to take care of you,” Ben said firmly. “I don’t know how you’re going to sleep with that shoulder but I suppose we can do some searches online for advice. And I’ll call Poe and tell him what happened. Maybe you can just man the cash register while you heal or something.”

Rey smiled softly. “You’re being very sweet right now. I just want you to know that.”

“What did you think I was going to be?” Ben exclaimed. “The woman I love has been injured. It doesn’t matter how that happened. I’m going to take care of you. But because of how it happened, then I’m definitely going to give you the best care I know how to do.”

“I love you, Ben. So, so much.”

“I love you too, Rey. More than I’m capable of expressing.”

“I know, honey. And that’s okay.” 

“It’s really not,” Ben said, coming up to a stoplight. “Do we need to go to a pharmacy?”

“Oh, yes,” Rey said, nodding. “They called one into the one where Phasma works. Do you know where that is?”

“Yeah, I do,” Ben said, beginning to drive again when the light turned green. “I’ll go in and get it for you.”

“Ben, I can do this.”

“I know, but you need all the rest you can get, and so I will go in and get it for you.”

Rey nodded and soon Ben was pulling into the pharmacy’s parking lot. He leaned over and kissed Rey before heading inside, and once he reached the counter, Phasma was the one who came over to help him. “Hey there, Ben. Here to pick up the prescription for Rey?”

“Yes,” Ben said. “I sincerely hope it’s pain killers.”

“Yeah, it is,” Phasma said, searching through the bins for the right one. “What happened?”

“Her grandfather,” was out of Ben’s mouth before he could stop it, and Phasma looked over at him. 

“He hit her again?”

“You know about that?”

Phasma nodded and pulled a bag out of the bin. “She broke down and told me one night when we were roommates. Please tell me that she told the cops this time.”

“She says she did while in the emergency room,” Ben said, reaching for his wallet. 

“How bad is it?” Phasma asked as she began to ring it up.

“Well, the side of her face is bruised, she’s got a broken wrist, and she’s got a dislocated shoulder,” Ben said, handing over his credit card when Phasma said the total. “And I want to go murder him.”

“That would probably cost you your job, you know. Let alone land you in prison.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t have a job, so I’m not too worried about that,” Ben said, sighing heavily as Phasma handed the card back to him. 

“What happened to your job?”

“Fired by the fucking Chancellor today because of the fact that I’m with Rey,” Ben said, shaking his head. “That’s why she went over there in the first place.”

“You better go file a complaint with the teachers’ union and human resources,” Phasma said, handing over the bag. 

“I will. But right now I need to take care of Rey.”

Phasma smiled. “It’s good to see you like this again, Ben.”

Ben smiled back. “She’s amazing. I kind of have to be.”

“Well, it’s a good thing,” Phasma said. “Now go take care of her. And call me later and tell me how she is, okay?”

“Will do,” Ben said, walking out of the building and back to the car.

He got in and saw Rey sitting there on the phone, so he quietly set the bag in the backseat and started the car, heading in the direction of their apartment. Rey was talking to someone that he quickly deduced was a police officer, and by the time that he was pulling into his designated parking space, Rey had finished the phone call. 

“Well?” he asked once the car was off.

“They arrested him,” Rey breathed out. 

“Good,” Ben said firmly. “Let’s go get you in bed, okay? Then maybe you can tell me why it is he does this to you.”

Rey shook her head gently. “Not today. I will, I promise, just...just not today.”

“Rey,” Ben started, but Rey interrupted him.

“I’ve had a rough enough day, Ben. I don’t need to make it worse on myself because I tell you about how my parents were murdered.”

“Murdered?” was out of Ben’s mouth before he could stop it, and Rey closed her eyes when she realized what she’d said.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” she said, looking over at Ben with tears in her eyes. “Please.”

“Then we won’t talk about it, I promise,” Ben said, getting out of the car.

He helped Rey out of the car and once they were in the elevator, she leaned into his side with her good shoulder. Ben carefully wrapped an arm around her back and brushed a kiss along her hair. “It’s gonna be okay, baby.”

“I know it is,” Rey murmured. “I’ve got you.”

Ben helped Rey get settled into bed once they were in the apartment, and after she’d fallen asleep, he went out into the living room and pulled out his phone. Calls to his mother and grandmother were in order, but he had a different call to make first. 

Human Resources needed to hear about this and they needed to hear about it now.


End file.
